Dimitri's Point of View
by Lacey Cordelle
Summary: READ THIS SERIES! Now that I have your attention: Not really sure what more to say. The title pretty much says it all. I might add that all six books will be included. I know it's been done before, but give me a chance! R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

They didn't know I was watching.

I stood outside in the shadow of a massive oak tree outside the dormitory, pretending I was able to hear the even breathing of the sleeping girls inside. My targets. I'd already been standing here for an hour, just waiting, calculating, compiling data on my surroundings. And then I heard the screams.

I wasn't allowed to do anything. It was part of my orders, not to interfere until I was sure I could bring the Princess home. I had to trust that her novice friend could take care of her, though I had consolation in the fact that I knew it couldn't be a strigoi. I had guardians posted at every entryway to the building, and another at each corner of the block. Vasilisa Dragomir had nothing to worry about. Well, except for me.

Then I heard a voice: Rosemarie Hathaway, I assumed. "Liss," she said. "Liss, wake up."

The screams stopped then and were replaced by a barely audible whimpering. Another voice muttered something then, but I couldn't make it out, even with my dhampir hearing.

Dhampir. That's what I am. Half-vampire, half-human, six foot seven and intimidating as hell, at least if the reactions I get for first impressions are anything to go by. I had the longevity, amazing senses, reflexes and healing abilities of a Moroi (I'll get into that later), and the endurance and look of a human. We have the best of both worlds. Essentially, we make the perfect bodyguards, which is why that's what most of us do.

Moroi, like the Princess, are living vampires. They're pale, tall and _skinny_, a type of skinny no human could achieve and still look as beautiful as Moroi do. They drink blood to survive, but they don't kill the person like a strigoi would. They also have elemental magic; they can control either fire, water, earth or air. And they're hunted down by strigoi, which is what makes my job so essential.

Strigoi are undead vampires, and they are the most unnatural thing in the world. They drain their victims of blood until they're dead, and they don't have emotions. They're immortal, or at least if we don't get around to killing them. They don't age, and they have deathly pale skin. Not like Moroi, who still have some pigment. Strigoi are _white_. And how do they get as strong as they are? By drinking Moroi blood.

That's why Moroi children usually live in academies like the one these girls ran away from. Academies are far from human culture so as not to be discovered, and are protected by magical wards to keep out strigoi. Novices — dhampirs in training to become full-fledged guardians — also attend academies to learn how to keep Moroi safe once they graduate and are turned out of the protection of the schools.

Most dhampirs become guardians, and guardians protect Moroi from strigoi at all costs. That's what I am. Or, at least, that's what I _was_, before my charge was killed and I was sent to St. Vladimir's Academy, and sent on this rescue mission.

"Liss, you aren't there anymore. Wake up," I heard the Hathaway girl say.

There was a pause where I assumed the Princess was waking up, then I heard Rosemarie say softly, "It's okay. Everything's okay."

I could imagine her running a hand over the Princess's hair, calming her down.

"I had that dream," I heard Vasilisa murmur.

"Yeah, I know," her friend replied.

There was a long pause without either of them saying anything, and then the light flicked on. I blinked against the onslaught of brightness, squinting. I'd been standing in the dark for so long that even that little bit of light hurt my eyes.

When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw that I had been right. The dark-haired dhampir held the Princess close. I noted that there was a cat in the room as well, which might not be entirely a good thing. Animals aren't so fond of dhampirs, and if he noticed me too soon, my carefully laid out plan was shot. Fortunately he seemed content hanging around the Princess for now.

She scratched his chin, and I was smiling when I heard the next, shocking set of words.

"When did we last do a feeding?"

I worked hard not to show my shock. It wasn't like it was really news to me or anything. We'd suspected all along that's what they'd been doing. They wouldn't have been able to stay off our radar if they had been going to Moroi bars and using feeders, nor if they had been using normal humans. But having it confirmed was a whole different thing.

As I watched, Rosemarie studied Vasilisa. "It's been like . . . more than two days, hasn't it? Three? Why didn't you say anything?"

Even from here I could see that the Princess was a little worse for wear. I don't know what it was, since I couldn't make out any details from this distance. It was almost like she had an aura of frailty around her.

Vasilisa looked away from Rosemarie and said, "You were busy. I didn't want to —"

Hathaway cut her off. "Screw that." She shifted on the bed, moving closer to her friend. The cat jumped away, moving to sit at the window. I tensed, hoping he didn't see me. For the moment, he didn't, and I turned my attention back to the girls. "Come on," the novice said. "Let's do this."

"Rose —" Vasilisa protested. She was cut off again.

"Come _on_. It'll make you feel better."

Rosemarie — or, Rose, I guess — bared her neck to the Moroi. The Princess hesitated for only a second before slowly lowering her mouth to Rose's neck.

As Vasilisa's fangs sank into Rose's neck, I heard the dhampir cry out before a look of blissful ecstacy fell over her. I shivered automatically. In our culture, letting someone drink your blood was taboo. A dhampir who gave their blood to a Moroi during sex was known as a blood whore, and was considered the dirtiest of the dirty.

Of course, it wasn't like the two of them were having sex. This was purely for survival. I had to admit, deep down, under the disgust that filled me, I felt a smidgen of pride that Rosemarie would go to such great lengths to keep her friend alive.

They were done in less than a minute.

Vasilisa pulled back and wiped her mouth. "You okay?"

"I . . . yeah," Rosemarie said as she lay back on the bed. "I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine."

Personally, I doubted it, but it would help when I had to capture them, so I was okay with it. At least for now. As long as it didn't keep happening when we got back to the academy. Then again, I'd still probably be able to force them to come with me, but it's never good to underestimate your opponent.

The Princess stood up. "I'm going to get you something to eat," she declared and left.

I tensed again when the cat looked out the window and right at me. I hadn't realized I'd ever relaxed, if just a little bit. I tensed even further when the Hathaway girl turned her head and looked at the black cat.

"You don't know what you're missing," she said to it, and I wondered just how long a Moroi bite lasts if she was talking to a cat. Of course, that was assuming she was still high and not just a little crazy.

I glared at the cat when Rose sat up, staring at the cat. I was sure she was questioning why the cat looked so furious.

As a natural defense, animals don't like dhampirs. I don't really know why, all I know is that in times like this it was both helpful and annoying. Helpful because I _did _want her to see me eventually. Annoying because I didn't necessarily want her to see me _yet_.

The girl swayed as she sat up, and waited a moment before standing up and moving to stand next to the cat and look out the window. The furry feline scooted over a little so there was some space between the two of them, but ultimately decided he was more interested in me than in her.

She stuck her head out the open window, and the breeze played with her long dark hair. Hair I could see now, backlit as it was with the light from the lamp, that was beautiful and thick, such a dark brown that it almost looked black when she cocked her head.

I was able to tell the exact moment that she first saw me, because she jerked back into the room, backing up two steps unconsciously. I watched her for a moment more, allowing her to take in my height and feel intimidated, and also to make sure that she was actually going to run.

Then I stepped back into the shadows, and Johnathon — one of the other guardians with me — came up to me.

"The street's clear. No one will see when we take them. Should I tell José to head inside and eavesdrop outside their room?"

I nodded, backing up farther. "Flick on your earpiece," I told him, speaking low and deep. My Russian accent came through more when I did that.

He did as I told, and I turned my own on. The crackling feedback made me flinch, but I turned and started loping down the street.

"They're heading to a car parked down the street, at the corner of Brown," I heard over the earpiece. I flinched again at the sudden noise, but at least I knew where I was going now. My plan was to wait at their destination and ambush them.

I sighed in relief when I saw it: a green Honda. I waited across the street, in the shadow of another tree.

"Alright, guys," I said, low and fast, to the nine other guardians who'd come with me on this mission. "Follow them. I want two flanking on their exposed left side, to ensure they can't veer off course."

"You got it, Guardian Belikov," Johnathon replied.

I liked him. He was a good guardian, and I'd given him the task of being my second-in-command.

Through the intercoms, I could hear the girls' conversation as they hurried toward where I waited.

"Rose . . . what are we going to do if they catch us?" Vasilisa — I assumed — asked.

"They won't. I won't let them," came the response, and I imagined her glaring at the world.

"But if they've found us —" She was cut off.

"They've found us before. They didn't catch us then. We'll just drive over to the train station and go to L.A. They'll lose the trail."

I frowned at that. We'd never found them before. That's why, when we'd found out where we were, we'd rushed over here to catch them while we had the chance.

On the plus side, at least we knew now where they were going if, by some miracle, they did manage to get away.

She made it sound so simple, it was almost laughable. Because, if their hideaway life was anything, simple it was not.

"Do you hear that?" the Princess asked suddenly. No doubt her Moroi hearing had picked up the footsteps of the pursuing guardians.

There was a pause before Rosemarie said, "We've got to run for it."

"But you can't —" Vasilisa seemed to protest her friends thoughts a lot. Each of them trying to protect the other.

Rose cut her off. "_Run_."

As I watched, they came pounding down the road. It was cruel, I know, but I waited until they were about fifteen feet away from the Honda before stepping out five feet in front of them, blocking their desperate escape.

I hadn't expected them to look so mature. They'd given us pictures before we left, but they'd been from two years ago. A lot can change in that time. And change it sure had!

The Princess was taller, her face thinner, her blonde hair longer. Her jade green eyes were more intelligent and wise.

And as for Rosemarie . . . She was a whole other person. In the photo she looked young, but seeing her now made me really realize that they'd been gone for two years. She'd grown her hair out longer than it was in the picture, and her brown eyes were more jaded and beautiful. Then again, that could have just been because I was seeing her in person.

Of course, because I was a trained guardian, I was able to take all this in during the ten second pause the dhampir girl took to assess the situation.

She shoved the Princess behind her and pressed herself against her, facing me.

"Leave her alone. Don't touch her," she growled.

There was no way she could we, and we both knew it, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt. I raised both hands to show that I didn't have a weapon and that I wasn't going to hurt either of them.

"I'm not going to —" I started, stepping forward.

Apparently that one step was one step too close.

She lashed out at me. I admired her courage, but her technique was beyond sloppy. I was able to easily block it. However, because of her blood loss and because she'd underestimated my speed and strength — and possibly because I hit a little harder than I'd intended to — she stumbled back and wasn't able to catch her footing. She started to fall, going straight for the sidewalk, hip-first.

I saw her flinch as she prepared herself for the pain that would accompany hitting the cement, and, before I thought about it (though I probably still would have done it even if I'd thought it over for hours) I reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her right where she was.

As she hung in mid-air, held upright only by me, her hair swung down because of gravity, revealing the bite mark on her neck. I couldn't help staring at it, this mark of the dirty thing she'd done, never mind the fact that it was necessary for her friend's survival.

She righted herself, but I still couldn't stop looking at the still-revealed bite. When she noticed, she tentatively reached up to touch it, and her fingers came back slick with dark blood. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she shook her hair out to cover it. It made me wonder if that was the reason it was so long.

I looked at the now-covered mark for a moment longer before meeting her eyes. She gave me a look of defiance and yanked her arm out of my grip. I let her go. I could have held her for as long as I wanted, but I didn't see the point. We had them cornered. It was either come back to St. Vladimir's Academy with us or . . . well, there really wasn't any other option.

Rosemarie back toward the Princess, tensed and ready to attack again, despite how badly the first time went. I admired her perseverance, at least.

Vasilisa grabbed her hand. "Rose," she whispered. "Don't."

The words didn't have any effect on her at first, but I saw the moment when she realized she was outclassed. She sagged in defeat, staring at the ground.

I mentally sighed in relief, then stepped forward, looking at Vasilisa. I bowed to her and said, "My name is Dimitri Belikov. I've come to take you back to St. Vladimir's Academy, Princess."


	2. Chapter 2

Unsurprisingly, the two girls tried to sit next to each other when we got them on the private jet. I took one look at the two of them whispering, their heads pressed together, and ordered them separated.

"Don't let them talk to each other," I warned Johnathon, who took the Hathaway girl to the back of the plane and sat with her. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan."

She shot me a look that I assumed was meant to be haughty and stomped off down the aisle. I didn't feel bad for her. I knew I was right, that they had indeed been planning their escape.

I felt better once we got into the air. Then their chances of getting away dropped from _slim _to _nonexistent._

I sat next to the Princess. It only made sense. When I arrived at the Academy, I was assigned as Vasilisa's guardian when she graduates, so I was going to look out for her, even now.

After a few minutes in the air, I felt rather sure that we weren't going to be ambushed, and I bent down to grab the Western novel I'd brought with me. I love them. I don't really know why, but I do. As I leaned forward, I felt my shoulder length brown hair slip off the back of my neck.

When I straightened, I glanced at the Princess. She was looking at my neck, her eyes slightly larger than they had been before I'd bent down. Unconsciously I reached up and touched the back of my neck, where the six little _molnija _marks rested, under my promise mark that marked me as a guardian.

_Molnija _is Russian for lightning, and each mark tattooed on the back of a guardian's neck stands for one Strigoi killed. I had killed six. That's more than most guardians will ever come across in their entire lifetime, and I'm only twenty-four.

I settled back into my seat and read for a while, but near the end of the flight, I couldn't help myself from getting up and going to sit next to Rose. Johnathon automatically went to the front to sit next to Vasilisa. I turned to the Rosemarie, but she looked away, choosing to stare out the window instead.

I waited for her to say something, but when it became clear she wasn't going to, I said, "Were you really going to attack all of us?"

She said nothing.

"Doing that . . ." I continued, trying to get a reaction from her. I wasn't lying, either, instead saying exactly what I thought. "Protecting her like that — it was very brave." I paused. "_Stupid_, but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

She looked at me, but didn't turn her head, brushing hair out of her eyes so she could look at me squarely. "Because I'm her guardian." She looked out the window again.

I frowned, thinking about that kind of devotion. I'd never seen someone so dedicated before. After I mulled it over for a minute, I stood and returned to the Princesses side, sending Johnathon back to his original spot.

They didn't fight as we put them in SUV's and drove them back to the Academy. We were stopped at the gate, and José, who was driving, rolled down the window and confirmed that no one from our entourage was a Strigoi. After a moment, we were allowed to pass through the gate and the magical wards that surrounded the place. It was morning — at least, according to the vampiric schedule we followed. That meant it was actually sunset.

The Academy was huge, all sprawling and gothic. This school wasn't as old as St. Basil's, the Academy I'd attended in Siberia, but it was modeled to look like it was. The architecture was grandiose, almost like some older churches, with lots of high peaks and stone carvings. Every now and then, wrought iron gates wrapped around small gardens and doorways. It really didn't look like a human high school.

Right now we were on the secondary campus, which was divided into upper and lower schools, each built around a large open quadrangle decorated with stone paths and massive, century-old trees. The upper schools quad — where we were going — had academic buildings on one side and dhampir dormitories and the gym sat opposite. Moroi dorms sat on one of the other ends, and opposite them sat the administrative buildings that served the lower school as well. Younger students lived on the primary campus, farther west.

Being set in Montana, miles away from any real city, meant that all around the Academy was _space_. The air was cool and smelled like pine and wet, decaying leaves. Overgrown forests ran all around the edges of the school, sometimes creeping onto the grounds. In the daytime, sometimes you could see mountains rising out of the horizon.

I lead the group through the campus, and as I headed to the administrative buildings, I heard feet pounding behind me. I had a feeling it was Rose, and because of that, I refused to look at her.

Unsurprisingly, my suspicions were confirmed when she said from beside me, "Hey, Comrade."

I remained obstinately staring ahead. "You want to talk now?"

"Are you taking us to Kirova?" she asked.

I restrained my self from glaring or snorting, but it was a close call. "_Headmistress_ Kirova," I corrected her, gritting my teeth. I stopped myself from saying something derogatory about Rose, something about how she wouldn't know anything about — or respect — proper titles because she didn't have one.

Instead, I just kept on walking straight for the commons as she said, "Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit —"

She trailed off when we went through the doors to the commons.

It was breakfast time.

I tried to stop from looking smug as I continued walking through, not stopping to give the girls time to adjust to seeing people they hadn't seen in two years.

I spared a glance at the teenagers, then returned my gaze straight ahead when I decided no one was about to kill anyone else.

I pushed though the next set of doors, into Headmistress Kirova's office. My eyes processed who was in the room automatically.

Kirova herself sat behind her desk. She had grey hair, and was tall and slim because she was Moroi. I would never admit it to anyone, but she'd always reminded me of a vulture. The resemblance was frightening.

Alberta — the captain of the school's guardians — stood against the wall, anticipating us. She was in her fifties, but still looked really tough. She wore her hair in a pixie cut to show off her _molnija_ marks, and I joined her against the wall, though on the other side of the door.

The other person in the room was Prince Victor Dashkov. He was only about forty, but he looked like he was at least eighty. He even was paler than normal and withered, and his hands shook where they lay in his lap.

Hathaway and Vasilisa sat before the Headmistress, and I dismissed the other nine guardians with a nod of my head.

Kirova glared at the two girls and opened her mouth, but Victor beat her to it.

"Vasilisa."

Both girls' heads swivelled to look at him, surprise written across both their features. With effort, the Dashkov prince stood from his chair in the corner. Vasilisa jumped up and hugged him viciously.

"Uncle," she whispered, sounding as though her throat was full. Moroi royals used family terms very loosely.

A small smile lit up his face, and he patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Vasilisa." He looked at Rosemarie. "And you too, Rose."

It bugged me that she was an afterthought to him. It was a near-epidemic with Moroi. They always put themselves above dhampirs. Never mind the fact that we're the only thing allowing them to survive. It was really annoying.

I decided that what was going on didn't really pertain to me, so I tuned it out. I didn't listen until I heard Rose shout.

"I _did_ do my duty!" she cried, jumping out of her chair. I flinched, more from the sudden noise and being torn out of my thoughts than anything else. "I did keep her safe! I kept her safe when none of _you_" — she gestured around the room — "could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."

My face twitched, a frown passing over it and leaving before anyone could see. I wondered what she meant by that.

Headmistress Kirova stared at her, no emotion showing on her face. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

Rose bit her lip, and in that second I knew there was something she wasn't saying something. Maybe something about the little bit of information that I'd realized on the plane.

"I see," Kirova continued. "Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left — aside from the novelty of it, no doubt — was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

I didn't know a whole lot about what had happened before they left. All I knew was there had been some destruction of property.

"No, that's not —" she began to protest, but Kirova cut her off.

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

I bit my tongue to keep from saying anything. I didn't think that was fair, but it was just another show of how Moroi thought they were better than we were.

All the confidence seemed to leave Rose. "I . . . what?"

Vasilisa stood up. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents —" the Princess started, before she was cut off again. That seemed to happen to her a lot.

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave.

Rose stared at Kirova, unbelieving. "Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send my off to my _father_?" She spat the last word, and I almost flinched at the venom in it. Kirova glared at her.

"Or maybe you're going to try to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day." Her words were so cold that my grasp on that flinch slipped, and I caught myself at the last possible second.

"Miss Hathaway," the Headmistress hissed, "you are out of line."

"They have a bond." I think I was more surprised than anyone else there when I heard my own voice. All eyes swivelled to look at me, but I stared only at Rose. "Rose knows what Vasilisa is feeling. Don't you?"

Kirova's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the girls and me. "No . . ." she murmured, "that's impossible. That hasn't happened in centuries."

"It's obvious. I suspected as soon as I started watching them." It wasn't entirely true. I'd only realized it on the jet back. Something about them . . .

Neither of the girls said anything, and Rose looked away from my eyes.

"That is a gift. A rare and wonderful thing," Victor said quietly from where he sat in the corner.

"The best guardians always had that bond. In the stories," I pointed out, still wondering why I was speaking.

I didn't expect Kirova to get angry again. "Stories that are centuries old. Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?" she exclaimed.

I shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she has potential —"

"Wild and disrespectful?" Rose cut me off. She seemed to have a habit of doing that to people. "Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

I don't know why that stung, but it did. Maybe because I was helping her, or maybe because . . . Nope, that was all I had.

"Guardian Belikoc is the princess's guardian now," Kirova said when I didn't defend myself right away. "Her _sanctioned _guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Lissa?"

If her previous words stung, that _hurt_. I like to think that I don't have a very big ego, but _no one _called me _"cheap foreign labor."_ Rage filled up my chest, but I pushed it down. It was a tribute to my self-control that I was able to even do it.

Kirova threw her hands into the air and faced me. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and _very _raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

I thought differently, but that's not what I said. Instead, what came out of my mouth was, "So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible," the vulture look-alike said. "She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," Rose piped up. I ignored her, and so did Kirova.

"Then give her extra training sessions." Now it was a competition for me, and I have a competitive nature. I wanted to win.

"Who's going to put in the extra time?" she demanded. "You?"

That stopped me. "Well, that's not what I —" I floundered.

The Headmistress crossed her arms across her chest and sat back with satisfaction. "Yes. That's what I thought."

I frowned, and looked at the girls. They looked at me with big, pleading eyes, these two runaways who'd broken out of a high-security school and swiped half of the Dragomir Princess's inheritance. But that wasn't what I saw, looking at them now. I saw a younger version of me, someone who'd guard her friend with their life, who'd do anything for those her loyalties lie with. Of course, when I thought of myself, I substituted _his _instead of _her_, but we were basically one in the same, though she didn't know that.

"Yes," I answered finally, more so that I didn't lose the argument than for any real desire to train her. "I can mentor Rose. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what? She goes unpunished?" Headmistress Kirova asked angrily. She obviously didn't like that I'd agreed to take on Rose.

"Find some other way to punish her," I told her. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular." Not that she'd care. The only problem she'd probably have if our whole race died out would be that there wasn't anyone to protect her, I though sourly.

The words I didn't say hung in the air anyway, making me think about Rose's earlier comment about "blood whores." It was rare to see girl novices anymore, and girl guardians were just as rare, the generation gap — or gap_s_ — be damned.

Prince Dashkov suddenly joined in the conversation. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov," he said. "Sending Rose away would be a shame, a waste of talent." He said it as though talking about a good hunting dog, one that was good at its job, but that you hadn't really developed any emotional attachment to.

Kirova stared out the window in her office, at the blackness beyond. It wasn't just the nocturnal schedule the school ran on. They also tint all the windows to block out the excess light.

When she turned around again, Vasilisa met her eyes. "Please, Ms. Kirova. Let Rose stay." She said it calmly, and I looked on suspiciously. It reminded me of the fact that all Moroi can use compulsion, though usually not on other Moroi or dhampirs. Quite the puzzle, but I didn't let it show on my face that I'd taken notice of it.

After a long, tense wait, Kirova sighed.

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She faced Rose. "Your continued enrollment at St. Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line _once_, and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required trainings for novices your age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have — before _and _after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent . . . away."

I thought that was harsh, but what Rose said next did not help. She gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" She nodded in Vasilisa's direction. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

I imagined drop kicking her. After everything I'd just gone through for her, she was going to ruin it.

"I'm taking precautions," Kirova said. She had greater control than I. I would be strangling her by now, if I had to keep opening my mouth and arguing with her. It was a good thing that I was _meant_ to remain silent. "As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her lips tightened to a flat, straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

_Shut your mouth and accept it, already, _I though.

She opened her mouth, and I'm sure it was to say something stupid that would piss the Headmistress off and get her kicked out anyway, but then she met my eyes. I hadn't stopped looking at her since Victor had spoken up, and now I tried to tell her with my eyes to shut her damned mouth, though I actually used harsher language than that.

She looked away from me and stared at the floor, closing her mouth. It took a long time, but finally she sighed and looked back up at Kirova.

"Fine. I accept."


	3. Chapter 3

_*** Wow! Just realized I've never put a disclaimer on this story! Oops! Alright, here goes: I don't own VA, or even the plot for this one!***_

Kirova sent the girls straight to class afterward, which I hated probably as much as they did. That meant I had to stay up and watch over the classes I'd been assigned to. Which meant at least another eight hours before I could get some sleep. Totaling twenty-seven hours awake for me. Yay.

I don't think it was a coincidence that I happened to be guarding all the classes Rose was in. I gave a mental sigh, already feeling exhaustion pulling at me. But it wasn't the first time I'd had to stay away for a full day or more, so I knew I'd be okay. Just a little slow with my reaction time.

Vasilisa left first, heading off to whatever her first period class was, then Rose had to go visit one of the guidance councilors. I trailed behind her silently, because I didn't have anywhere to be just yet.

I already knew what her classes were going to be. Both hers and the Princess's had been decided upon before they'd gotten back. They just sent her so that she and her friend wouldn't be walking to class at the same time. In fact, they wouldn't get to see each other again until lunch, but after that they had almost all the same classes. Moroi and dhampirs had separate classes before lunch, and then shared classes after.

Alberta and I walked her to the guardian gyms for her first period, Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques. I didn't say anything while we walked, and neither did they. I think we all wanted to be alone with our thoughts. Or maybe it was just that no one wanted to be the first to break the silence. I know I didn't.

I could feel her eyes on my back every now and then as we walked. I forced myself to walk as though it were a normal day, and I didn't have an angry novice staring at my back. I think I succeeded, but it's hard to be sure. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Alberta doing the same thing. She occasionally muttered under her breath and rolled her eyes. I think I heard the word 'Portland' more than once. Alberta left as soon as we got there, having decided Rose was okay here with all her classmates and the three guardians around the room.

When we walked into the gym, the other senior novices were setting up for the class. As soon as we crossed the threshold, all eyes were on Rose. She shifted from foot to foot, almost unnoticeably.

She seemed to make up her mind about something, and squared her weight. She ran her gaze over the gaping dhampirs, then settled on one with messy red hair and a handful of freckles. He stared at Rose like she was the most beautiful thing in the world, the veil pulled over it thin and failing. His name was Mason Ashford, if I remembered right.

Her face twitched, trying to hold back a smile. "Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time," she called to him.

He snapped out of his haze and shot her a crooked smile. A few students sniggered or chuckled.

"This _is_ my time, Hathaway," he responded. "I'm leading today's session."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah? Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

Another guy spoke up then. Eddie Castile, I was pretty sure. He was good friends with Mason, and they both had been good friends with Rose before she ran away. "It's _always_ a good time to think about you naked."

I shook my head and walked toward the wall I'd be leaning against today, muttering, "Teenagers. Naturally," under my breath in Russian and rolling my eyes. Never mind the fact that I'd only been out of my teens for four years.

And just like that, she was part of the group again. That was the thing with dhampirs. We were almost always easygoing, as long as we weren't on duty, and _especially_ when we're still novices. Moroi were often formal and polished at all times, but not us. You learn to live life freely and not worry about trivial things so much when you never know when you're not going to be around anymore.

Before I even got to my station, she was laughing and enjoying herself again. Before long, Roland, who was overseeing the training, went over and chided Ashford for hanging around and not running the actual class.

Still smiling, Mason explained the exercises, and I noticed Rose frowning. She probably didn't know any of them, because she'd been away. Oh, training her was going to be a joy. I sighed mentally.

Mason stepped up, taking her arm. "Come on, Hathaway. You can be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time."

An hour later, I knew I had a lot of work to do. I never should have agreed to mentor her. Stupid stubborn streak.

"Not practicing, huh?" he asked.

"Ow," she moaned. I hid a chuckle as I watched them. He reached down and hauled her up from the mat she'd been thrown onto at least fifty times.

"I hate you," she said, not really sounding like she meant it, as she rubbed her thigh.

"You'd hate me more if I held back." The sound of the Ashford kid's voice dragged my eyes up from where they'd been mesmerized, watching Rose rub circles on her leg. I shook myself. What the hell?

"Yeah, that's true," she responded, limping across the gym as the class put away the equipment. I tried to hide my smirk.

"You actually did okay," he told her. I raised an eyebrow at that. Not true.

"What? I just had my ass handed to me." At least she saw it.

"Well, of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That's something." His eyes flashed as he shot her a mocking grin.

"Did I mention I hate you?"

He gave her another smile, but it didn't last long. "Don't take this the wrong way . . . I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there's no way you'll be able to take your trials in the spring —"

She cut him off. "They're making me take extra practice sessions. I'll be ready."

"Extra sessions with who?"

I decided to tune them out now. _I _knew who she was having extra sessions with. I looked around and saw Roland and Juan, the other two guardians watching over the class, talking in the corner, and headed over to them.

"Hey, Belikov!" Juan called. "You're back!"

I stayed far enough back that I didn't have to be a part of the conversation if I didn't want to be. I raised an eyebrow and nodded, as if to say, _You're just noticing?_

"Alright. Hey, I've gotta head over to Carmack's class. I'll see you later." He left with a wave.

"Yeah," Roland said. "I gotta go to. Talk to you later."

I frowned, then shrugged. Oh well. I had to get to Stan Alto's class anyway. It was frowned upon for guardians to be late. We were supposed to be the ones setting an example.

Guardian Alto, or Stan as the kids called him when they weren't in his class, was a little older than I was, and had a look of perpetual anger set on his face. It was actually kinda creepy. He was a weird dude. Even the other guardians admitted it.

I managed to get there about a minute before the bell rang. Which made me fifty-nine seconds faster than Rose. She had just slid into her seat when Stan entered. Naturally, his eyes zeroed in on her, and his normal look of anger became full out pissed off. He widened his eyes in mock surprise and walked over to stand beside her desk. I held myself still so as not to end up narrowing my eyes. My dislike for the guardian grew in that instant, but I was professional, and wouldn't say anything.

"What's thing?" he asked, still mocking her. "No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous _of you to take time our of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us."

Her cheeks flamed red, but she didn't say anything. I was impressed by that. Even so, her face clearly showed what was on her mind. Two words to be exact, one starting with F, and the other starting with Y.

His sneer grew bigger, and he gestured for her to stand. "Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

She slithered further down in her chair. "You don't really mean —"

He cut her off, and his expression became serious. "I mean _exactly_ what I say, Hathaway." _That rhymes_, my brain supplied helpfully. "Go to the front of the class."

That was totally unfair. My _"dislike"_ for Stan became full out _hate_. The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife. No one laughed, to scared of Stan to say anything. I might have, if it wouldn't have had the possibility of costing me my job.

Rose stood and strode to the front of the room, turning to face the class. She gave us a look of defiance tinged with just a little fear, and tossed her hair over her shoulder. I couldn't help it. My eyes tracked the hair as it swung. Who knew hair could be so beautiful? I mentally shook myself. What the _hell_? Where did that come from? I mentally shrugged. Why did it matter? It was true. Her hair was beautiful.

Her eyes flicked over the room, and her mouth twitched at the sight of the guardians in the back of the room. I knew she had to have know we'd be there. In the outside world, we guarded Moroi one-on-one, but at Academies like this there were too many people for that, plus we also had to teach. So instead, we worked shifts patrolling and watching whole classes.

"So, Hathaway," Stan continued, deceptively joyful, as he walked up to the front. "Enlighten us about your protective techniques."

"My . . . techniques?" she asked, face blank.

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

"We never ran into any Strigoi," she said, stiff as a coffin board. Great analogy, I know.

He scoffed. "Obviously. I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she didn't say anything. Stan started pacing.

"So what'd you do?" he asked. "How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"

"Sometimes," she replied.

"_Sometimes_," he copied in a high-pitched voice that sounded nothing like Rose, and yet still succeeded in making her answer sound ridiculous. Not like that was hard, though. Her answer was stupid to begin with.

"Well then," he continued, "I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er . . . no." She made me want to hit my forehead. Or, even better, hers. She sounded so moronic!

Stan jumped all over that. Hm . . . maybe it's _him_ I want to hit. "No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because _you weren't here_."

Her throat moved as she swallowed. "I watched the area whenever we went out," she said defensively.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"

She said nothing.

"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method." I thought that was a little uncalled for, even though it was probably true. In fact, it might be called for, if she didn't have an amazing guardian for a mother who also went by Hathaway. Maybe if he'd specified _Rose _Hathaway . . .

"No! That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?" she pointed out indignantly.

He stepped up to her and got right in her face, so close I'm sure she could feel his breath on her face. "Because you got _lucky_," he spat.

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," she shot back. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound."

"Safer?" he stuttered. "_Safer?_ We are at war with the Strigoi! One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him — and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi of a human, but you are nothing, _nothing,_ compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

She looked away from him, moving her eyes over to where I stood near the other guardians. I knew she wouldn't find any sympathy here. We were all trained to have a 'guardian mask' that we used to hide our emotions while on duty. All three of us would have it up right now.

Her answer was too low for my ears.

"What was that?" Stan asked loudly, almost making me flinch. "I didn't catch it."

She spun around to look at him. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger," she yelled.

He nodded, smiling satisfactorily and stepping back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And _that _is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough — even with guardians — to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear . . ."

". . . so do the dhampirs," she finished.

"Well." He licked his lips. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

After that low blow, he let her sit down, and I pondered the possibility that I could actually get her in shape for both her field experience and her trials. Both were essential to her graduating. For field experience, novices had no classes for half a semester, and instead would be assigned to a Moroi to guard while the guardians staged fake 'Strigoi' attacks. Trials were just the huge test before graduation. Both could influence which Moroi a guardian got assigned to after graduating.

Not that it mattered to me. I'd already passed my tests, and I already knew who I was guarding. My life was simple and laid out.

Yeah. If only I'd known.

* * *

><p>The next two classes were uneventful. People stared at Rose, whispered, but no one really singled her out. I guess everyone thought she'd been harassed enough by Stan.<p>

She tried to bolt from the classroom as soon as the lunch bell rang, but since her body seemed mad at her for the work-outs she'd put it through, she ended up limping and stumbling out instead. As she walked, I fell into step beside her, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my leather duster. I wanted to get to know the girl I'd have to spend so much time with.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" she asked, though I'm pretty sure it was rhetorical. I suppressed a smirk.

"Yes," I answered anyway.

"And you don't think that was unfair?"

_Yes, I really do_, my brain supplied helpfully. I told it to go back to sleep until I actually needed it. It decided it didn't like that, and stayed anyway. _Stan's a jerk. Stan's always been a jerk, and that was really unfair of him. He shouldn't pick on people like that. I mean, sure she made some mistakes, big mistakes, but she's got some great qualities. She's diligent, she _has_ to be smart, or else she wouldn't have been able to escape, she's beautiful . . ._

Wait a second. Where the hell are these thoughts coming from! Well, okay, yeah, she _was _beautiful. There, I said it. Er . . . thought it. But that didn't mean anything. I thought she was beautiful. So what? Lot's of girls were beautiful. Just because she had good genetics didn't mean that I suddenly wanted have her then and there.

While my brain decided it was going to go insane overanalyzing itself, my mouth decided to get defensive. "Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Vasilisa?" Oh, God. I sound like I'm _agreeing_ with him. The world must be coming to an end.

My mind was so busy going around in circles and overlapping itself with more and more thoughts that I almost missed her response. The fact that she mumbled it to the ground didn't help, either.

"I kept her alive."

Okay now mind. Reply. Need a reply. Preferably something that makes me sound smart. Let's try for Zen life lesson. Instead, I ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind that had to do with anything other than Stan or beauty.

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?"

Oops. That was mean. My mind threw curse words at my tongue, that — thank god — didn't roll off the tongue and out my mouth. That would have been not good.

But my mouth had a point. She'd had another training class after Stan's, and I'd watched her get smothered there, too. I decided to roll with it.

"If you can't fight _them —_"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she snapped, not letting me finish.

I shortened my stride so I matched her pain-filled pace. "You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?"

_There we go! _My mind complimented my mouth. Finally something that actually sounded not-stupid.

"Sure." She shrugged. "Now and then."

I raised an eyebrow, not that anyone was actually looking at my face. "You didn't join any teams?

She shrugged again. "Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

I shot her a look of exasperation, one she actually caught this time. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

_Good one, Belikov_, my brain said. _Use her devotion to Vasilisa to make her _want _to train, therefore making your job easier. Smart._

"I'll be able to protect her," she all but growled.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know — for your field experience _or_ after you graduate. No one wants to waste the bond, but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian either. If you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Vasilisa when you both graduate — if you can prove you're worthy. I hope you will."

_I'll let you use me anytime_, my little brain said. You know, the one below my waist. I mentally snarled at it, and it shut up and went away. Huh. It was smarter than my big brain. That was something, at least.

It was true, though. I really did hope she made the right choices. I saw a lot of myself in her, and I didn't want to see her fail._ Yeah, that's what it is_, I told myself. _It has nothing to do with the fact that you'll get to be working beside her for the rest of your life if she does. Hot little thing she is._ Okay, maybe that little brain wasn't as smart as I'd thought it was.

I had no idea where these thoughts were coming from. I usually wasn't like this. Usually, I was levelheaded and stoic. These lust-filled thoughts were nothing like me.

"Lissa, call her Lissa," she muttered, looking down.

I almost choked on air. _That_ was what she had to say to my speech? That was it? _Call her Lissa?_

I didn't respond, just turned and went back to my room.

God that girl was insane! No reasonable person could talk to her! I unlocked my door and stepped in, intent on having a shower. I didn't have anywhere I needed to be while everyone ate, but I didn't want to start to take a nap only to have to get up again soon after. So I settled for getting clean, rubbing the Portland stink off me. And at this hour, I was pretty sure all the hot water would be gone anyway, so I headed right into the bathroom and turned it to _Icy Cold_. Yeah. That's why I was having a cold shower. Because I was pretty sure all the hot water was gone. _Riiiight._

I trailed back into my room, dropping my duster on my bed and pulling my shirt over my head before stuffing it in the bag I used for dirty laundry. I unlaced my boots and left them where they were on the floor, then pulled off my socks and threw them in the general direction of the bag. I was too tired to worry about it.

The jeans slid easily off from over the silk boxers — one of the few extravagancies that I allow myself. When there's a possibility you could be fighting for your life — and someone else's — at any moment, chafing becomes a real concern. This was a nice way to rectify that.

I glanced down, happy to see that my little brain had decided not to stir to life and make an appearance. With a sigh of relief, I dropped the boxers too and headed back for the bathroom.

The first step into the shower was a shock, and it really woke me up. Hey, another good reason for a cold shower!

I stayed in there for a long time, shampooing my hair at least three times and lathering up my body more than that. When I finally came out, I combed through the wet tendrils of my shoulder-length hair (another extravagancy I allowed myself) precisely, and through on my jeans and boots again, along with a clean shirt and topped it all of with the coat.

I had just flopped down on my bed and lay back when my phone rang. I sighed. Doesn't my life ever calm down?

_***Review! Please!***_


	4. Chapter 4

_***Oh my God! It's been so long! I'm so sorry! All my files and things are on my laptop, and the cord for it died on me a couple months ago, and so I haven't been able to update ever since :'( I can't believe it, and I feel horrible, so I'm just gonna try to type it up on my mom's computer for now. I should really update my Games Night story first, since it's more popular, but I have a system and I plan to stick to it, so here we go!***_

"Hello?" I answered.

"Guardian Belikov. Good." It was Alberta on the other end, and she just sounded was too cheerful. Now that I was lying on my bed, the exhaustion was getting to me. I should never have lied down.

"Guardian Petrov. What can I do for you?" I managed to keep the syllables from slurring together, in exchange for allowing my eyelids to slide closed.

"I have some paperwork here I need you to fill out. I'd do it myself, but . . ." She trailed off, and I could imaging her shrugging to indicate all the work she had to do.

I sighed. "Yeah, alright. I'll be down there in five minutes."

I hung up and opened my eyes, willing my body to stay awake for now. I groaned as I hauled myself up and headed out to the guardian's main building on campus.

I hate paperwork. I'd much rather have to fight off three Strigoi single-handedly than sit and do paperwork. Even so, I'd never complain about it, because my mother brought me up right, and I followed orders.

Alberta only needed me to sign a couple of things and write up a single report. Mundane, easy things, really. Just explaining why we needed to use one of the Academy's private jets, and the report on what exactly happened in Portland. You'd be surprised how much paperwork the guardians actually have, especially for people who spend most of their time either fighting or training to be able to.

I set the pen carefully back on the table, and blew out through my teeth after I'd written the last word and signed my name the last time.

Alberta looked up from the report she was writing and reached across the table to put her hand on my arm. Neither of us were really touchy-feely people, but sometimes the contact was nice.

"You should take the rest of the day off. Catch up on some sleep," she told me, a motherly expression taking over her face.

I gave her a weak smile, but didn't object to her offer. She smiled back knowingly, nodding to herself. "I'll have George take over the rest of you duties for the day."

I closed my eyes and let my shoulders relax. "Thanks. Now all I have to worry about are the private training sessions later with the Hathaway girl."

"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about that," Alberta said.

I smirked, standing up and opening my eyes. "Yeah. That's alright. Thanks, Alberta." I stretched, tapping the ceiling with my fingertips.

I waved to her then left, heading straight back to my room.

I stripped down — yet again — when I got back, sliding into my bed and setting an alarm for four hours later. Then I closed my eyes, and for once I dreamed.

I used to dream all the time, back when I was still in Russian with my family, but ever since I'd left Baia my nights were filled only with black nothingness. Every now and then I'd dream, but it always surprised me.

The dream in and of itself was unexpected, too. In it, the new dhampir Rose was being attacked by a Strigoi down in the school's jail. As dream-me stormed down the hall, the evil vampire spun around, revealing herself to be one of the Moroi students: Natalie Dashkov. Real-me frowned. Why was Natalie suddenly a Strigoi?

Dream-me didnt' seem surprised by this, and was ready when she turned her attack onto me. It wasn't long before dream-me staked her, seeing as she seemed to be a new Strigoi.

Then I turned my attention to Rose, scooping her up in my arms. She said something then, but it sounded like it was underwater to real-me. Dream-me responded, and that I could hear.

"Rose. Roza. Open your eyes. Don't go to sleep on me. Not yet." Dream-me sounded panicked.

There was a pause as Rose said something I still couldn't hear, and I responded with, "Why?"

I was starting to get the sense that this conversation was going to be incredibly confusing as long as I couldn't hear what _she _was saying.

Again she said something, and again it sounded like it was underwater. Her eyelids started to droop shut, but dream-me shook her and said, "Hey, stay awake. What do you mean?"

Another response I couldn't hear, but this time I didn't respond. She tried to grab my shirt, but her fingers were too weak. She tried again to say something else. This time I probably could have made out what she said if I'd been ready for it and straining to hear. Her words had lost her underwater quality, and just sounded really quiet.

"Yes, Roza," dream-me said, "I did want you. I still do. I wish . . . we could be together."

This time when she spoke, it was loud and crystal-clear. "Then why did you lie to me?"

I woke up with a start, my alarm blaring. I got dressed again as quickly as possible, trying not to think about the dream. I didn't want to consider where it'd come from or what it meant.

I glanced at my clock. I had just enough time to get to the gym and be on time for the lessons. And that was only if I jogged.

I checked my watch as I pushed the door open, happy to see I'd made it on time. And that Rose wasn't there yet.

I lowered myself down to the floor, back propped against a wall, and pulled out one of my battered Western novels. I settled in and started reading.

When I'd finished the chapter and the dhampir girl still hadn't shown up, I decided I needed to go out and find her. I put the bookmark in to hold my place and headed back out.

It didn't take me long to find her. I knew her entire schedule, and sure enough she was standing outside her last class, chatting with Vasilisa. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it looked serious. Of course, when you're my size, it's kinda hard to be stealth and hide at the last moment, so I didn't even bother. I just walked straight up and said, "Rose?"

They both looked up at me, somewhat guilty expressions on their faces.

"You're late for practice." I gave a polite nod to Princess Dragomir. "Princess."

Rose followed me when I turned and headed back to the gym, but she cast a worried glance over her shoulder back at her friend.

We were almost halfway there when it happened. She just suddenly stopped walking in the middle of the walkway.

I didn't notice right away. I'd gone another couple of feet before I realized she wasn't beside me anymore. At first I thought she'd left and was trying to get out of the training session. But when I cast my eyes over my shoulder to look for her, she was standing perfectly still and erect right where we would have been standing a few seconds ago.

I returned to her side. She was wearing a blank expression, staring at the cloudy sky. After a couple of moments her eyes flicked from side to side, but still obviously weren't seeing what was actually in front of us.

I watched her with concern, trying to quell the anxiety racing through my bloodstream. I'd never seen anything like this happen to someone before, and to have it happen to someone I was supposed to be responsible for . . . Of course I was anxious. Surely that was why I was a hair away from panicking. That was the only reasonable explanation.

I tried shaking her, but it didn't help. She was locked in some sort of trance. I wasn't entirely sure she was seeing something else, but that uncertainty was shattered when suddenly her eyes went wide and she whispered, "Christian."

What on earth was she seeing?


	5. Chapter 5

*_**Sorry it's been so long! You've already heard my excuse, though, so I'm just going to get right to it!***_

I couldn't do anything. I was powerless. All I could do was stand there and shake her, and try to fight off the panic attack that threatened to rise up and overtake me. Yes, big bad Dimitri, who could kill strigoi and leap over tall buildings in a single bound was having a panic attack over a seemingly catatonic seventeen year old girl. Okay, so maybe the leaping over buildings was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a nice thought.

Rose's eyes flicked back and forth as though she was looking at something, but they were glazed over, her attention focused inward. I shook her again and called her name, but it did nothing more this time than it had the last five.

"Get out of there!" she gasped. My eyes frantically flicked over her face as I tried to come up with something I could do to help her, but I came up empty.

Several minutes passed. Every now and then her eyes would widen or her mouth would move, but other than that she remained unresponsive. It reminded me of that girl, Miss Beans, in that Johnny Depp movie Rango. You know, the one with the lizard who ends up becoming the sherif of an animal town in the west.

"Oh, great," she whispered. I zeroed back in on her, realizing that my mind had been wandering. I pulled my attention back to where it should be.

I started talking to her, trying to get her to come out of the creepy state, mostly so my mind didn't have the chance to wander again. I'd already seen how effective my pleading with her was. Not very.

After five agonizing minutes, she blinked back into focus.

"Rose? Rose?"

She blinked several times and focused her eyes on me. I was glad I'd stopped shaking her; that would have just boggled her brain more. "Are you alright?" I asked her.

"I . . . yeah. I was . . . I was with Lissa. . . ." I felt my brow furrow as she put a hand on her forehead. "I was in her head."

Relief swept through me that she was okay, followed quickly by confusion. "Her . . . head?"

"Yeah," she responded. "It's part of the bond." My eyes tightened at the corners as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. I couldn't.

"Is she all right?" I asked, trying to keep the uncertainty out of my voice. I was pretty sure I succeeded. I tend to be good at that, hiding my emotions.

"Yeah, she's . . ." She hesitated, and my pulse jumped in my throat. She thought for a second, then bobbed her head. "She's not in danger."

"Can you keep going?" I asked. I was worried about her. I had no idea if this bond weirdness had lasting effects. I didn't want her passing out on me or something like that.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied.

She left for the change room and I flunked down on the floor, sprawling my long, jean-clad legs out in front of me. It was a relief to actually be able to spread them out. Then I remembered I wasn't done yet today, and I stood back up so I didn't have the chance to relax.

Rose came out and walked up to me. "Do you think maybe you should just let me have today off?"

I threw my head back and roared with laughter, until I heard her ask, "Why is that funny?"

My laughter and merriment dropped off. "Oh. You were serious."

"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for _two_ days. Why do we have to start this now? Let me go to bed. It's just one hour," she complained.

I crossed my arms and tried not to think about how much I wanted to be in my own bed right now. Hell, at this point it didn't even have to be my own bed. Any bed would do. "How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?"

"I hut like hell." That's what I'd expected she would say.

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?"

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel . . . not so bad."

Even I didn't really understand what I was trying to say there, so I wasn't really surprised when she came back with, "What kind of logic is that?" But at least she stopped arguing and allowed me to take her into the weight room and show her the sets I wanted her to do.

As soon as she started on the first one, I lowered myself back down to the floor and pulled the Western I was currently reading out from my duster and started reading.

"There. Done," Rose said some time later. I stuffed the book back into my coat and showed her some stretches to cool her muscles down.

"How'd you end up as Lissa's guardian?" she asked me. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

I was surprised by her asking. I didn't like to talk about myself. It was easier on me if I held myself aloof from other people. "No," I answered curtly. "I attended the one in Siberia." I spoke formally in an effort to show her that I didn't want to talk about it, but either she didn't get the message or she just didn't care.

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana."

The corners of my mouth turned up. She obviously knew nothing about Siberia. I didn't reply to the statement, however. "And after I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." Darkness shrouded over my face, but I continued on. I'd opened the gate, and now I had to get it out. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

My thoughts turned speculative, and I'd almost forgotten Rose was there when she said, "Did this lord die on your watch?"

"No," I reassured her. "He was with his other guardian. I was away." I supposed her questioning made sense. She wanted to make sure that the person who was going to be protecting her best friend was worthy, and the best they could be.

My memories of Ivan Zeklos flew to the surface of my mind. We hadn't been best friends or anything like that, but we had been friendly, and it had been a blow to me when I'd found out he'd been killed. It would have thrown me into overdrive with my guardian duties, except that they hadn't had anyone ready for me to guard right away. I blamed myself for what happened, and I wasn't going to allow anything like that to happen ever again. Rose had nothing to worry about with me guarding Lissa. I hoped.

"Hey," she said sudddenly, "did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're complimenting me on that?"

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

That piqued my interest. "Last one?"

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

My eyes narrowed. "This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

She sat up and crossed her legs. "Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe." I didn't believe her. Someone would have told me if psi-hounds had been sent after her and Lissa. Especially if they'd been sent and then failed in their mission. By then we would have some idea of where they were, and we could have tracked them. No, it definitely wasn't the academy that sent psi-hounds. But who else would have the motive to do something like that? I mentally shrugged. It didn't really matter. They were back here now. They were safe.

She left after that and went back to her own dorm. I headed back to my own room and stripped down, before laying down on my bed and promptly falling asleep. For at least eight hours, I was dead to the world.

_***Just saying that I love reviews! And sorry this one was kinda short!***_


	6. Chapter 6

No dreams this time, thank god. I raised myself back to the land of the living early, and prepared myself to go train Rose. Joy. What a great way to start the morning, with sarcastic comments and a sprinkling of inappropriate lust.

I lead her through different drills than the day before, then sat back to watch her struggle her way through them. It wasn't like I took pleasure in her discomfort or anything, but I had to admit that she kind of deserved it.

I was glad when I got free of the morning training, and all I had to do for the rest of the day was stand against a wall and look like a statue. When time came for the students to have lunch, I went to the staff dining room for chicken primavera. The cook was a master at her profession, and I had to fight the urge to lick off the plate when I was done.

I sat alone, of course. I didn't like to associate with the other guardians. I found my own company much easier to deal with.

After I finished eating, I headed over to the gym and switched into track pants. I ran a few laps, then used the weights for a little bit.

When I felt that I'd done enough, I changed back into my jeans and found the lowest beam in the center of the gym. It was just low enough that I could jump and reach it, but anyone shorter than I was would not have been able to get themselves up.

I hauled myself onto the beam, hearing the familiar creak of the metal as gravity tried to pull it away from the wall.

I didn't stay there, though. I leaped to another beam, and used the momentum to swing myself up to a higher one. There, I stood and inched my way along the beam, hunching over so I didn't smash my head against the ceiling. I crossed to a different beam when they intersected, and then picked my way to my favorite spot in the entire campus.

It was a beam like any of the others, but it had another one right behind it and a foot and a half higher for me to rest my back against. It was wide enough that I could lay down if I wanted to, and there was a window not too far above it, allowing me enough light to read.

I loved it here. When I was in my room, people could find me, but when I was here, I was lost to the world. I came up here whenever I had time.

I pulled out my Western from a pocket in my duster and flipped open to my current page, sticking the bookmark on the beam above me.

I'd only been up there a couple of minutes when I heard voices, and the door to the gym opened.

"Nah, baby, no one'll care. We have another twenty minutes in lunch. No one'll be in here until then." A male voice.

"But Jesse . . ." And a higher pitched female.

"Baby, you said you wanted to see what I could do. I gotta do it here," the voice of the guy named Jesse.

There was a feminine sigh, and I heard footsteps echo through the massive empty room.

Intrigued, I set my book aside and crept over to where I could see the couple. I felt like a character from one of the video games everyone so loved to play.

I was at least thirty feet above the floor, and I watched my steps as I headed to where I could see the main bulk of the gym. I really didn't want to fall from this height. I could probably survive it, _probably_, but not without sever injury, and I really didn't want to chance it.

I saw two people, both Moroi. Jesse, I assumed, was tall and blonde haired, and surprisingly tan for a Moroi. Must be a royal, one of the ones who had cans of that spray tan shit shipped to the school.

The girl, whose name was still a mystery had long blonde hair with brown low lights that appeared to be professionally done. She was a bit mousy for my tastes, and I'd never really had a thing for blondes.

They walked hand in hand and headed to the weight room. I climbed across the beams over to the window that connected the main gym to the side room with the weight machines. I had to drop down about fifteen feet to do so, but the beams continued across the entire way, so I didn't have to find my way down to the ground. I was a little concerned about how I was going to get back up, but I decided not to think of that just now.

I pushed the window open and managed to shimmy my way through the opening, landing on a beam on the other side, thank god. Wouldn't that have been awkward, just getting all the way here and then coming through the window and falling to the floor right in front of the kids I'd been kind of stalking.

I felt like a teenager again, creeping around in the rafters. But these kids had invaded my privacy, and they weren't even supposed to be here right now. I felt as if I was within my rights.

Jesse was taking his shirt off when I finally rearranged myself so I could see, and I blanched and nearly turned back the way I came. Stalking a kid who wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place was one thing, but watching him strip, that was a whole other. Fortunately the rest of his clothing stayed on.

He sat down at the chest press machine, one had a similar effect of bench pressing. He pumped off a few reps and the girl watched his muscles move with interest.

"Now come over here and watch this, babe," he said, moving over to a bicep curl machine.

He pulled the bar up. "Come here and feel my muscles, babe." She did, squeezing his arm.

I snorted quietly to myself. The Moroi boy was trying to get girls by showing off how strong he was. That was hilarious. Any dhampir could beat him at a strength contest on their worst day. Even Rose was stronger than him.

I shook that thought out of my head. I didn't want to think of her right now. This was my secret place, and I wasn't going to let her in, not even in my thoughts.

I climbed back the way I'd come and went up to collect my book. I stuffed it in my jacket and swung myself to the ground. When my feet hit, my knees were already bent to take the impact.

I walked my way to the weight room, where the girl was currently running her hands up Jesse's abs as he did sit-ups.

"What are you two doing here?" I barked. They jumped, and the girl yelped. I felt a little bad. She'd been so worried about being caught.

"I'm sorry, sir. We, uh, we were just, um, leaving," Jesse said with wide eyes.

"Good. Do that." I stopped myself just short of glaring.

They scrambled, Jesse grabbing his shirt at the last minute, and raced out the door. I scowled after them, then pulled my phone out of my jean pocket to check the time. I wouldn't have minded having a watch, except that things like that tended to get broken when you're constantly getting in fights.

I had just enough time to get my book and head to the class I had to guard after the lunch break. That just fouled my mood further, and the scowl deepened.

I hauled myself up to the beam where I'd left my book and stuffed it in my coat. I leaped down as soon as I knew I could do so without causing myself injury, and went out of my way to hit the punching bag just once. It rocked on its chain and groaned at me. I glared at it, daring it to swing back at me. I don't mean with punches. I'm not quite so crazy yet to think that a punching bag would actually try to punch me, although the name does elude to that, doesn't it?

I walked to the next class wrapped up in my thoughts and with my head down. The funk pressed down on me the rest of the day, and I think I accidently took it out on Rose during her after school training. I was so grateful to get back to my room afterwards.

There wasn't a whole lot to do at the Academy, especially not for the instructors. The kids had their friends, and things like that, but I preferred my own company. However, I had saved up some of my pay for a while, and gotten myself a play station. I'd waffled over the decision — I'd never really been a huge video game person — but eventually I'd given in. And it had been a good purchase. It turned out that I quite liked video games. It was something I could use to take away the extra adrenaline from the day.

I also had a TV and DVD player, which was kind of nice. But I had a bit of a hard time focusing on one thing for very long, so watching too much TV tended to be out of the question. I think it had something to do with pent up energy and constantly being on edge.

I flicked on the PS3 and grabbed the controller, and settled in for some fighting and strategy.

* * *

><p>The next few days were . . . normal, actually. Saturday morning I lied in bed and read until I had to get up for patrol. I managed to finish my book, and I slid it onto the plain black bookshelf that sat against one of my walls, half full of books. Mostly Westerns, if I was being honest.<p>

Patrol was about as boring as it usually is, although I was starting to become desensitized to _boring_. It was becoming the norm for me. The most interesting thing I saw was a squirrel who tried to throw an acorn at me. The wild part of me that I suppressed most of the time wanted to chase after it when it skittered away from me, but I wrestled the urge into submission. _You are not ruled by my instincts and desires,_ I told myself. _You've fought to make it that way; now all you have to do is maintain it._ Easier said than done, but I had a lot of practice.

Sunday I got up — well, not early, but definitely earlier than I had the day before, and went to church.

At St. Vladimir's Academy, church wasn't as much of a formal event as it was in the human world. We didn't really dress up for it much. But other than that, it was basically the same.

Church was an entirely optional event, for staff and students alike. It wasn't even necessary for guardians to guard the place, since Strigoi can't enter holy ground. I went, though, as I did every week. With the number of lives I'd taken already in my life, I felt it important that I go, even if I didn't really listen to the priest.

I saw Rose there, sitting next to Princess Vasilisa. I highly doubted she was there because she believed in the religion. She was probably just there to shake up the boringness of being trapped in her room all day.

There were a lot of kids there, but they were really the only ones I recognized. Other than Christian Ozera, who was the nephew of my friend Tasha, but that was really the only reason I knew him. There weren't too many novices, and they were the only ones I might recognize, since I spent a lot more time around dhampirs than I did Moroi.

I didn't take communion, and I didn't really listen to anything that was said. I was too busy thinking of the first kill I'd ever made.

It had never left me, the haunting look of those wide red ringed eyes. They way they'd continued staring up at me even after I'd driven the stake through his heart, as though he was surprised I'd actually managed to do it.

I knew it was something I was meant to do. It's what I'd been bread and trained to do. I knew it had to be done. And yet I couldn't help thinking of how once upon a time that Strigoi had family and friends, people who'd loved him. Maybe those people were still out there, searching for their loved one, hoping to finally see him come home. Wondering what had happened. Blaming themselves, thinking they should have been better, nicer.

He'd been human, originally. Turned forcibly, obviously. He couldn't have been more than sixteen, and I doubted he'd been Strigoi for more than three years, tops. It had been five years since I'd killed him, and still those red eyes haunted me. I saw them whenever I closed my brown ones, running together with the others I'd killed.

I barely even noticed when church had finished, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts. I left in silence and headed for the kitchen in the building my room — mini apartment? — was in. I got myself a plate of spaghetti and sat at one of the tables in the dining room, not too far from where a group of other guardians sat.

I couldn't help overhearing their conversation as I ate.

"You know Garret Ricada and Hope Yulander?" one of them asked the other two. I think it was Carla.

I assumed there were nods, because Carla went on. "They're resigning from their duties to get married!"

Woah. That was strange. It certainly didn't happen very often.

"Yeah, they're going to get a house and get jobs with the humans," she continued.

I frowned. That was very irresponsible of them. There was already a shortage of guardians, and these two were just going to up and leave their charges to run off and get married. I shook my head. How ridiculous.

The guardians giggled and went on to speculate about whether or not they would adopt children. They couldn't have any kids of their own, since dhampirs just can't have kids together. Another reason this was so crazy. Neither could progress their blood line anymore.

I scrapped the last of the red sauce off the plate and set it in the bin to be washed, and headed up to my room. I took a detour at the last minute and headed out the doors to the library to find myself a new book until I had the time and money to order a few more off the internet.

I found myself one that looked kind of interesting. There was a guy riding a horse on the front, not like that was very different from any of the other books I'd read in the last year.

I brought it back to my room, but didn't start it yet. I just lay on my bed with my arm flung over my eyes, feeling tired mentally.

After a few minutes, I pulled myself up with a sigh, and switched on my play station.

* * *

><p>An hour later, I was yelling at the TV. "Come on Nate! You can do it! You've gotta find Sully! No no no! Don't die! I know you can do it! I believe in you! <em>No!" <em>I sighed. "You've made a jump bigger than that before." I watched sadly as Nathan Drake fell to his death off the edge of a pirate ship. I would so suck if I were in a video game.

If I hadn't died when I had, and if I hadn't shut up to listen to the all-too-familiar death music, I wouldn't have heard the knock at my door. I set the controller down non-too-gently on my bed and got up to open it.

Carla stood there. She was actually the closest to a good friend I had here.

"Hey, Dimitri!" she said brightly.

"Hi. Can I do something for you?"

"Michael and Carmen and I were going to play wii bowling down in the lounge. We wondered if you wanted to play."

I looked over my shoulder to where the game controller was vibrating on my bed, since I'd forgotten to pause the game. Then I looked back at Carla, who stood there with a hopeful expression on her face.

"Sure, why not. It sounds like fun." I smiled at her.

She bounced on the balls of her feet. "Great! We'll meet you down there in five minutes!"

I shook my head at her when she left, but in a good way. She was cute. And I don't mean cute as in she was good-looking — well, I guess she kind of was, with her caramel colored hair and bright blue-violet eyes. I meant cute the same way you called a puppy cute. It was pretty and small and a ball full of energy. That was a pretty good comparison for Carla.

I gathered up my will and shut off the console, then headed downstairs to actually see other people for once.

_***And that's a wrap! Someone said they wanted to see more of Dimitri's personal life, and there we have it! Now: Review!***_


	7. Chapter 7

I fell into a more normal routine over the next few weeks. I trained Rose morning and afternoon, guarded the classrooms during the day, sometimes patrolled the grounds at night if it was my turn, went to church on Sunday, read as much as I could and played Uncharted: Drake's Deception whenever I had the spare time. _(*A/N: Did anyone get that reference in the last chapter?)_

Gradually the things I heard about Rose and Vasilisa lessened and returned to more normal teenage topics. Just as gradually, Rose started to do better in training. I still saw her get beat up a lot, but it wasn't like I'd expected her to get good overnight. All in all, she was doing pretty well.

I was draped across the floor one day, engrossed in a particularly good Louis L'Amour book, listening to Prince sing "When Dove's Cry," when Rose came in.

I heard her back hit the floor, but I didn't look up from my page. "Whoa, Dimitri. I realize this is actually a current hit in Eastern Europe right now, but do you think we could maybe listen to something that wasn't recorded before I was born?" I mentally snorted. I'd only been one when this song came out. It wasn't like it was something that had been new when I was at St. Basil's Academy, like she made it sound.

I looked up at her. "What does it matter to you? I'm the one who'd going to be listening to it. You'll be outside running."

I watched impassively as her face scrunch up and she started her stretches. Alright, so maybe I watched her stretch out her hamstrings a little less than impassively, but I kept a straight face, and that's all that matters.

"Hey, what's with all the running, anyway? I mean, I realize the importance of stamina and all that, but shouldn't I be moving on to something with a little hitting? They're still killing me in group practice."

I met her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should hit harder." A corner of my mouth twitched up, just a little.

"I'm serious."

I raised the other eyebrow too. "Hard to tell the difference." I set aside my book but didn't move other than to straighten out my back a little. "My job is to get you ready to defend the princess and fight dark creatures, right?" I was oversimplifying things, but I think I was getting my point across. Maybe.

"Yup," she said unnecessarily

"So tell me this: suppose you manage to kidnap her again and take her off to the mall. While you're there, a Strigoi comes at you. What will you do?"

"Depends on what store we're in."

I stared at her, letting my expression convey that I was not amused and that this was a serious question.

"Fine," she said, becoming serious. "I'll stab him with a silver stake."

Now I did move, sitting up and crossing my legs. This really wasn't a lounging kind of conversation. "Oh?" I raised my eyebrows again, although I couldn't pinpoint when I'd dropped them the first time. "Do you have a silver stake? Do you even know how to use one?"

She looked away and scowled. "Okay. I'll cut his head off."

"Ignoring the fact that you don't have a weapon to do that, how will you compensate for the fact that he may be a foot taller than you?"

She straightened from touching her toes and put her hands on her hips, clearly annoyed. I think it was a subconscious motion. "Fine, then I'll set him on fire."

"Again, with what?"

"All right, I give up. You've already got the answer. You're just messing with me." And quite enjoying it, too, my brain added. "I'm at the mall and I see a Strigoi. What do I do?"

I dropped my eyebrows, taking note of the action this time. I stared at her, unblinking. "You run."

Her eye twitched, and I knew she wanted to hit me. I decided to compromise with her, telling her I'd run with her today. I also wanted to see just what she was doing out on the track. I'd been timing her, and she seemed to have reached a plateau.

I shortened my stride to keep pace with her, and we didn't speak. I wasn't sure she _could_ speak. When we were three laps in, she suddenly picked up her pace. I gladly sped up to keep in line with her.

When we had three laps to go, a few novices walked by, including that red-haired Mason Ashford I knew she was friendly with. He called out to her. "Good form, Rose!"

She slowed and waved to him, smiling.

I frowned. "You're slowing down." _Well, that came out harsher than I'd intended it, _I thought. _I wonder why?_ a little part of me, deep, deep down inside teased. "Is this why your times aren't getting any faster? You're easily distracted?"

Despite the snappiness of my tone, the comment had the desired effect. She redoubled her pace, and ended up dropping two minutes from her record time.

"Not bad, huh?" she gloated as we walked back inside the gym. "Looks like I could get as far as the Limited before the Strigoi got me at the mall. Not sure how Lissa would do."

"If she was with you, she'd be okay." I hadn't meant to say it. It just slipped out. But I realized as soon as I said it that I believed it to be true.

She looked up, happy surprise in her eyes. My face felt warm as I met her eyes. Not flushed warm, but happy, proud warm.

Then, all of a sudden, her eyes glazed over. Deep in them was a look of panic.

This time it only lasted a handful of seconds, and then she was running as if she hadn't just run three miles. I stood stunned for a second before I bolted after her. I caught her easily with my longer legs, and ran right next to her.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I asked, but she either couldn't hear me or wouldn't answer. She was too focused on where she was headed.

The female Moroi dorm was just in sight when Vasilisa met us, running straight to Rose. Her face was tear streaked.

Rose grabbed her arms, making the princess look into her eyes. "What's wrong? What happened?"

I had an odd moment of almost deja-vu. That was the exact same thing I'd said as we ran. Maybe she'd heard me on some subconscious level and just hadn't processed it. _Or maybe you're just more alike than either of you think,_ suggested that annoying little corner of my mind. I told it to go back to its corner for a time out.

I turned to scan the surroundings when Vasilisa threw herself into Rose's arms and started sobbing. There was nothing around, and nothing for me to do to help. I heard Rose murmuring, "It's going to be all right. I'll be alright." There was no immediate threat for me to take out, though, and I felt useless.

A half and hour later, the three of us were crammed in the princess's dorm with Headmistress Kirova, the hall matron, and three other guardians. I hadn't actually been into a Moroi dorm in a while, but it still looked the same as the last time I'd been in one. I'd heard Natalie Dashkov had gotten Vasilisa as a roommate, and it wasn't hard to tell whose side was whose. Natalie's looked messy and lived in, and the princess's was even more bare than my room. I noticed a four by six photo tapped to the wall on her side. It showed her and Rose dressed as fairies, so I figured it was safe to assume it was from Halloween.

In the hall outside the room was a crowd of Moroi girls, all trying to see what the excitement was about. If they knew, they wouldn't want to know. Animal cruelty was my line. I could kill Strigoi, but dead animals got to me.

There was a fox on Vasilisa's bed. It looked really cute. Or rather, it would if it wasn't for the gaping slash in it's throat.

It didn't look any different from any of the other dead things I'd seen, but it was a fox. It hadn't done anything to harm anyone.

I welcomed the distraction that was Natalie Dashkov's entrance. She came to a sudden halt when she saw what all the commotion was about.

Everyone stared at the fox for a few moments longer. Finally I heard Vasilisa whisper to Rose, "It was still alive when I got back. Barely. Oh God, it was twitching. It must have suffered so much." I forced away the image that brought to mind, thinking I was too tenderhearted.

"Did you—?" Rose whispered back. Now this piqued my intrigue.

"No. I wanted to. . . . I started to. . . ." _What did you start to do, Princess?_

"Then forget about it. It's stupid. Somebody's stupid joke. They'll clean it up. Probably even give you a new room if you want," Rose whispered harshly. She sounded like Vasilisa having a new room might be a good idea.

The princess turned to face Rose. I was watching out of the corner of my eye, not wanting to look out of place. "Rose . . . do you remember . . . that one time. . . ." That sounded like a story I wanted to hear about.

"Stop it. Forget about it," Rose said. "This isn't the same thing."

"What if someone saw? What if someone knows? . . ." _Knows what?_

I saw Vasilisa flinch and figured Rose must have tightened her grip on the Moroi's arm. "No. It's not the same. It has nothing to do with that. Do you hear me? It's going to be okay. Everything's going to be okay." I realized I had started to just stare at them, not bothering to look out of the corner of my eye anymore.

I pulled my attention away just as Headmistress Kirova barked, "Get this cleaned up. And find out if anyone saw anything."

One of the other three guardians, Josh, suddenly noticed Rose and realized she wasn't supposed to be there and asked me to take her back to her room.

I did, and we walked in silence for most of the way. I'd wondered if she would say anything, but she didn't. Finally, when we were almost to her dorm, I spoke. "You know something. Something about what happened. Is this what you meant when you told Headmistress Kirova that Lissa was in danger?" I remembered just in time that Rose had asked me to call her best friend Lissa instead of Vasilisa. I would have to try to remember to do that when I thought of her too, so I wouldn't slip and be "too respectful" around her. Not that I thought there was such a thing as "too respectful," but I kind of understood the desire not to have people put you up on a pedestal.

"I don't know anything. It's just some sick joke."

"Do you have any idea who'd do it? Or why?" I knew there was something she wasn't telling me, something to do with this, but I didn't know what questions to ask.

She seemed to consider it, which was a relief, but in the end she shook her head. "No. No clue."

I mentally sighed. "Rose, if you know something, tell me. We're on the same side. We both want to protect her. This is serious."

She spun on me. "Yeah, it _is _serious. It's all serious. And you have me doing laps every day when I should be learning to fight and defend her! If you want to help her, then teach me something! _Teach me how to fight. _I already know how to run away."

I regarded her, a new level of respect growing. She would really do anything to protect her friend. It was heartwarming, and I wanted to help her. But I knew she wasn't quite ready. She had the passion, but I had to know she had the drive. I decided to keep her on laps for now. But I was on the fence. It wouldn't take much for her to push me over the edge, one way or another.

I knew none of that showed on my face. I knew I looked perfectly calm, just like any halfway decent guardian would. When she was done speaking — my decision making only took a split second — I gestured her forward, ignoring what she'd said. "Come on. You're late for practice."

_***Review!***_


	8. Chapter 8

I could tell she was incensed. She fought with more passion than I'd ever seen before, and there was a perpetual snarl on her face that I wasn't sure she was entirely aware of. I watched from the sidelines as she finally won a sparring match. There was a scattering of applause from her fellow novices.

As I made my way to the second class I was to guard, I over heard the redhead, Mason, asking her how Vasilisa was. It made me think of the dreadful fox, and then I couldn't get the image out of my mind. The blank eyes of the harmless animal staring up, so different from the red-rimmed ones of Strigoi.

I was on lunch duty today, and by the time lunch arrived I had managed to pull my thoughts away from the fox. We still didn't know who'd done it, and there was no point to stressing over something that I didn't have any control over. That's what I told myself, anyway.

The Princess sat at a table with Natalie Dashkov, looking shaken. I doubted Natalie prattling on about the fox helped much. I knew I wasn't supposed to pick favorites with the students, but I really didn't like that girl. Something about her just set me off. Her bringing my freshly freed thoughts back to the canine didn't improve my opinion of her any.

I worked my way through the cafeteria, passing the door to the feeder room and peeking in. I knew my face didn't move, but inside I was grimacing. It was a necessary part of a Moroi's life, but it was disgusting. And the humans, the feeders, who let them do it? Even worse. The idea that feeders are the dregs of society had been ingrained in us our entire lives.

I couldn't see anything through the doorway, though, and moved on. They had room dividers and cubicles set up so that you couldn't see right in.

I kept wandering, but these sorts of things were boring, and nothing happened.

Not too long after, a guardian named Alan came to relieve me so I could have lunch myself. I trudged my way out of the students area and found the stairs up to the staff lounge. I smiled at the Moroi who handed me my plate, and she nodded meekly at me. I've never really understood why Moroi respond that way to me. Sure, I'm good at what I do, but it's not like I'm going to hurt them. I'm here to protect them. The royal Moroi aren't as bad. A lot of them just ignore me. Some of them are friendly. And other guardians have a habit of looking at me with reverence, unless they happen to be quite accomplished themselves. That's part of why I'm so introverted. The other part, the bigger part, is just that I prefer my own company.

Pulled pork sandwiches were on the menu today. The Moroi — I think her name was Tessa — knew me well enough to pile three of them onto my plate. I shot her a grateful smile, and she mustered up the courage to meet my eyes and smile back. Well that was progress.

I sat at an empty table and proceeded to mow down on the food. I hadn't realized I was starving until I sat down to eat. Still, I forced myself to eat at a (relatively) sedate pace.

I still finished early, and got up to head to the next class on my guard schedule. They had me assigned to the same classes the Princess was in after lunch, which meant I guarded almost all of Rose's classes. I half wondered if that was by design.

I rounded the corner and saw the two girls standing outside the animal behavior classroom. They were talking, and I ducked back behind the corner, telling myself I didn't want to interrupt their conversation. _Yeah, right,_ the sensible part of my brain scoffed. I told it to shut up.

"I do like her, but she's just incompetent about certain things," a voice, I was fairly certain it was Rose, said.

There was a short pause, then she sighed and continued, "How are you doing with all this?"

"Can't you already feel it?" Vasilisa teased. I wished I could see their faces.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, "but I want to hear it from you."

"I don't know. I'll be okay. I wish everyone wouldn't keep staring at me like I'm some kind of freak." I felt an abstract sense of anger.

Rose's anger was apparently much less abstract, and perhaps closer to rage than anger. "Who's bothering you?" she demanded.

"Rose, you can't beat up everyone we have a problem with," she chided, but her heart wasn't really in it.

"Mia?" Rose guessed.

"And others," the Princess avoided giving a straight answer. "Look, it doesn't matter. What I want to know is how this could have . . . that is, I can't stop thinking about that time—" There was that _other time_ again. What was the other time? What had happened?

"Don't."

"Why do you keep pretending that didn't happen? You of all people. You made fun of Natalie for going on and on, but it's not like you've got a good grip on your control switch. You'll normally talk about anything."

"But not _that,"_ Rose insisted. "We need to forget about it. It was a long time ago. We don't even really know what happened."

I saw a blonde Moroi named Jesse pass me, and I tried to look like I was doing something important, not just standing around eavesdropping on a couple of teenage girls. Because man does that sound creepy.

A few seconds later, I heard a masculine voice call out, "Hey, Rose." Jesse.

"Hey," Rose responded, easily switching modes into seductress.

"So hey, I'm going to be in your dorm tonight for a study group. You think . . . maybe . . ." he proposed. I imagined him leering at her, and her with a hand on a cocked hip.

"Sure," she purred.

"I'll be there." I pictured him winking.

"I'll meet you in one of the common areas, with further instructions." She would have winked back.

I heard footsteps and assumed he'd left. The assumption was verified when Vasilisa spoke. "You're under house arrest. They won't let you hang out and talk to him."

"I don't really want to 'talk' to him. We'll slip away." I filed that information away for later, and shook my head in disappointment.

The Princess groaned. "I just don't know about you sometimes."

"That's because you're the cautious one, and I'm the reckless one."

The bell rang then, and they moved inside the room. Other students headed in as well, and I slipped in alongside them, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

I stood stoic against the back wall of the classroom, doing my best statue impression. I didn't really listen to what was going on around me. I just sent my mind to a blank place, much like meditation, and stood. My body was alert; my eyes were watchful, and I could jerk to action in an instant.

A higher pitched voice raised in question cut through my delightful wall of white. "What about foxes? Do _they_ have alphas too?"

My gaze followed the voice back to the speaker, and saw a petite blonde Moroi with ringlets. She sat with her back straight — for the moment, at least. I imagined she'd go back to slouching like all the others once the attention was off her. But she didn't seem to mind the attention.

A few people giggled nervously. Ms. Meissner wasn't pleased. "We're discussing wolves today, Miss Rinaldi," the teacher chastised.

That was the end of the little outburst, and with some effort, I dragged my thoughts back to the thoughtless nothing from before. I didn't always wander here, only when there was something I didn't want to think about. Like, say, a dead fox.

Speaking of which . . . Rinaldi. Mia? The girl heckling Vasilisa after the fox thing? Huh. Something else to file away for later.

Okay, so maybe my blank state isn't as blank as I thought it was.

I watched absently as a Moroi I could only describe as sleazy sidled up next to Rose and her best friend. He said something to her, and I heard her growl back, "Screw you." I tuned in then.

"Are you offering?" he asked.

"From what I've heard, there isn't much to screw."

"Wow. You _have_ changed," he mocked. "Last I remembered, you weren't too picky about who you got naked with."

"And the last _I_ remember, the only people you ever say naked were on the Internet." Her tone was different than with Jesse. With him, she'd been flirtatious. Now she was just confrontational.

He cocked his head. "Hey, I just got it: it was you, wasn't it?" He looked from Rose to Lissa — right, Rose'd asked me to call the girl Lissa — and back again. "She got _you _to kill the fox, didn't she? Some weird kind of lesbian voo—ahhh!" He burst into flames.

I tensed, but didn't quite jump forward. There was something off about the fire. I ignored the screams (mostly the boy's), Rose protecting Lissa, and the teacher racing for the fire extinguisher to focus on the fire. It wasn't touching him, that's what was strange. It danced above his skin but not on it. Then just as sudden as they'd started, the flames went out.

There was only one person I knew who knew how to do that. And how ironic it was that her nephew just happened to be in this class.

And he was laughing uproariously. That kind of gave it away too.

Ms. Meissner's face was deeply colored from rage. "Mr. Ozera!" she shouted. "How dare you — do you have any idea — report to Headmistress Kirova's office now!"

Christian Ozera stood up breezily, smirking. "Sure thing, Ms. Meissner."

I shook my head to myself, unable to believe he would do such a thing.

Nothing more got done in that class. The students couldn't stop talking about what had happened.

News spread quickly, and everyone was talking about it by the next period — and for the rest of the day. It was understandable. None of the students (and many of the teachers) had ever seen a spell like that, with fire that didn't burn anything. And it had been used offensively. _No one _did that. It defied all the rules of our society. And no one taught offensive spells any more. Well, none of the instructors from the Academy did. They were thought to be forgotten. Clearly they weren't.

Moroi were tree huggers. They believed magic was meant to take care of the earth and better people's lives. It wasn't always that way, though. Moroi used to fight alongside their guardians, helping rid the world of Strigoi. At some point they got scared of extinction and decided to hide behind us, and now our numbers were dwindling. Now, I'm not saying that I wouldn't do _everything_ to protect any Moroi. I'm just saying the system could be better.

I gave a sigh of relief when my day was finished, Rose was gone away to her room, and I could go do just about anything I wanted. I stayed in the gym, heading to the change room. I pulled out my bag from where I had it stashed and pulled on my black broadshorts. I didn't bother with the shirt, instead carefully folding my duster and setting it on top of the bag and tugging my shirt over my head.

I went back to the main room and laid into the punching bag. The chain creaked as I sent it rocking, jab, cross, hook, roundhouse, cross. I pounded combinations and single hits into the bag, sweat gathering on my brow. My body worked, and my mind didn't have to think. It was better than the whiteness I sent my thoughts to when I was guarding the classrooms, when I knew there was very little chance of seeing any action.

I didn't know how much time had passed when I finally let up. I was slick with sweat, breathing hard. I headed back to the change room and showered, then pulled my clothing back on and headed to my room.

I was putting Assassin's Creed into my PS3 when I remembered what Jesse had said to Rose. I sighed. Maybe she'd be smart and not go through with it. I wouldn't bet money on it, though. What I would bet money on was that their meeting wouldn't be happening until much later. So for now, I sat on my bed with the controller and Desmond Miles, and tried not to think too hard about much of anything for a while.

_***Not too exciting, I know. But the next one should be much more interesting. (Rubs hands together and chuckles evilly.)***_


End file.
